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CAMBODIA’S
FOREIGN RELATIONS
IN REGIONAL AND
GLOBAL CONTEXTS
Edited by
DETH SOK UDOM
SUN SUON
SERKAN BULUT
CAMBODIA’S FOREIGN
RELATIONS IN REGIONAL
AND GLOBAL CONTEXTS
Published by
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
Edited by
DETH Sok Udom
SUN Suon
Serkan BULUT
THE KONRAD-ADENAUER-STIFTUNG
Freedom, justice and solidarity are the basic principles underlying
the work of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). The KAS is a political
foundation, closely associated with the Christian Democratic Union
of Germany (CDU). As co-founder of the CDU and the first Chancellor
of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967)
united Christian-social, conservative and liberal traditions. His name is
synonymous with the democratic reconstruction of Germany, the firm
alignment of foreign policy with the trans-Atlantic community of values,
the vision of a unified Europe and an orientation towards the social market
economy. His intellectual heritage continues to serve both as our aim as
well as our obligation today. In our European and international cooperation
efforts, we work for people to be able to live self-determined lives in freedom
and dignity. We make a contribution underpinned by values to helping
Germany meet its growing responsibilities throughout the world.
KAS has been working in Cambodia since 1994, striving to support the
Cambodian people in strengthening democracy, the rule of law and human
rights. Thereby, the foundation works towards creating an environment
conducive to economic and social development. All programs are conceived
and implemented in close cooperation with the Cambodian partners on
central and sub-national levels. KAS is mainly working in the following
fields: Administrative Reforms and Decentralization, Strengthening
Political Parties and Parliaments, Legal Reform, Media Development,
Political Education and Social Market Economy, as well as Foreign Policy
Consultancy.
CONTENTS
Endorsement...............................................................................................................................vii
Foreword........................................................................................................................................ix
Preface............................................................................................................................................xv
List of Biographies................................................................................................................. xvii
Abbreviations ....................................................................................................................... xxvii
PART I: INTRODUCTION
−− About This Book: A Readers’ Guide...................................................................1
−− Chapter 1: Introduction: Cambodia’s Political History
and Foreign Relations, 1945-1998
Dr. PATH Kosal...................................................................................5
PART II: RELATIONS WITH NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES
AND MARITIME SOUTHEAST ASIA
−− Chapter 2:
−− Chapter 3:
−− Chapter 4:
−− Chapter 5:
−− Chapter 6:
−− Chapter 7:
An Overview of Cambodia-Thailand Relations:
From Hostility to Harmony?
Dr. DETH Sok Udom.......................................................................27
A History of the Future is Waiting to be Made:
Contemplating Thai-Cambodian Relations-A Thai
Perspective
Dr. Morakot MEYER........................................................................45
Cambodia’s Relations With Vietnam:
Prospects and Challenges
KRY Suyheang & CHY Terith.......................................................63
Vietnam-Cambodia Relations:
An Analysis from a Vietnamese Perspective
Dr. NGUYEN Vu Tung....................................................................83
Cambodia’s Relations with Laos:
In the Shadow of China
Ambassador Julio A. JELDRES, Ph.D.......................................101
Cambodia and Maritime Southeast Asia
Dr. Alvin Cheng-Hin LIM.............................................................117
iii
PART III: RELATIONS WITH REGIONAL AND GLOBAL POWERS
−− Chapter 8:
−− Chapter 9:
−− Chapter 10:
−− Chapter 11:
−− Chapter 12:
−− Chapter 13:
−− Chapter 14:
−− Chapter 15:
European Union-Cambodia Relations
Robert HÖR.....................................................................................135
Australia’s Role In Cambodia:
More Than a Peacemaking Architect
LENG Thearith ...............................................................................161
Cambodia-Japan Relations: the Bumpy and Winding
Road to the Strategic Partnership and Beyond
Dr. LEANG Sim Onn......................................................................179
Cambodia-Korea Relations: Bilateral Cooperations
and the Changing Dynamics of Triangular Affairs
BIN Rasmeykanyka.......................................................................205
Cambodia-China Relations: What Do Cambodia’s
Past Strategic Directions Tell Us?
CHEUNBORAN Chanborey........................................................227
Cambodia-United States Relations:
From Early Encounters to Post-Cold War
Serkan BULUT................................................................................249
Cambodia-Russia Relations
Dr. TENG Delux..............................................................................269
Cambodia-India Relations
Anirudh S. BHATI & Dr. Bradley J. MURG..............................291
PART IV: MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
−− Chapter 16: Cambodia in the ASEAN Context
SAM ATH Sambath Sreysour & Dr. OUM Sothea................311
−− Chapter 17: Cambodia and the United Nations:
A Multilateral Engagement
Ambassador SUN Suon, Ph.D...................................................335
iv
PART V: ECONOMIC INTERGRATION AND SECURITY
COOPERATION
−− Chapter 18: Cambodia's Defense Policy and Strategic
Environment: Contemporary Issues, Challenges
and the Way Forward
VAR Veasna.....................................................................................365
−− Chapter 19: Greater Mekong Subregional Cooperation (GMS)
and Cambodia’s Foreign Policy
Dr. CHHEANG Vannarith............................................................387
−− Chapter 20: Cambodia’s Integration in
Global Economic and Financial Systems
YOU Sokunpanha.........................................................................413
v
vi
ENDORSEMENT
It is indeed a privilege for me to be asked to write an endorsement for Konrad Adenauer
Stiftung’s new book, Cambodia’s Foreign Relations in Regional and Global Contexts. This
academic publication will certainly contribute to a better understanding of the evolution
of Cambodia’s foreign policy in the context of fast-paced and changing regional and
international landscapes.
There is no denying the fact that there are not many publications written on this
subject from the perspectives of Cambodian scholars and intellectuals, many of whom I
assume have witnessed the country’s painful journey from the horrors of war at its worst
period in the midst of the 1970s to peace, reconstruction and reintegration into the global
community of nations. We must be mindful that Cambodia’s foreign policy imperatives
have been dictated internally by its historical, cultural, geographical and political contexts
while externally shaped, to a great extent, by powerful forces of globalization, competing
geopolitical multipolar rivalries, and the rising of traditional and non-traditional security
threats, as well as other mega trends like climate change and food/energy security issues, to
mention just the major ones.
As great advances in science and technology continue to unfold in the 21st century,
bringing along innovation and improved well-being to humanity, the post-Cold War
geopolitical landscape has brought, on the other hand, many uncertainties to the world. The
current global and regional contexts, characterized by i) increasing likelihoods of conflicts
(as in the Korean Peninsula), ii) the newly emerging trends of protectionism and populism
(as embodied in President Trump’s “America First” and now “America Alone” with its
pullout from the “Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)”), iii) the rise of China as an economic
power and its grand strategy of the “Belt and Road Initiative” (recently counterweighted
by Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy,” in tandem with India’s “Act East Policy,”
and ASEAN-led “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)”), are forming
multi-dimensional, cross-cutting geopolitico-economic kaleidoscopic forces that exert
tremendous pressure on a small country like Cambodia.
Last but not least, Cambodia’s foreign policy alignment with its regional ASEAN
Community, well known for its “ASEAN Centrality” and “ASEAN Way,” offers another
perspective on how the country is conducting its policy coordination in a multilateral
framework or in fora like the G20, the WTO, ASEM, and the UN, on global issues such as
the UN peacekeeping operations and the SDGs.
In sum, and in light of the above, I can only congratulate Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and
all the contributing authors for their perseverance in delivering such a quality publication
that is much needed for our academia, think tanks and policy makers.
Enjoy the reading!
His Excellency Dr. SOK Siphana
Advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia
vii
viii
FOREWORD
I am deeply honored by the request from the editors to write the foreword for this
great book. Cambodia’s Foreign Relations in Regional and Global Contexts is a very timely
and important book. At the outset, I would like to strongly compliment the three editors,
Associate Professor Dr. Deth Sok Udom, Ambassador Sun Suon and Mr. Serkan Bulut,
who shared a common vision in 2016 to produce an edited volume on Cambodia’s foreign
relations in historical and contemporary contexts. They were strongly supported by
Cambodia Country Representative Mr. Rene Gradwohl of the German foundation Konrad
Adenauer Stiftung, which financed this project. Now, their vision has become a reality. The
determination and painstaking efforts of the editors, beginning in March 2016, produced
this extraordinary book.
Cambodia’s journey since independence has been long and turbulent. This book tells
the story of how Cambodia, like a phoenix, has risen from the ashes of suffering and deep
despair: from being a victim of the power struggles for hegemony in Southeast Asia during
the Cold War to be reborn as a proud nation among nations in the dynamic process of
globalization that is sweeping Asia and the world. I think this central theme is articulated
most clearly in the following five chapters: the first and the last plus the three chapters 12,
13 and 14 which deal with the relations of Cambodia with the three superpowers: China,
United States, and the Soviet Union/Russia. Through the wise guidance provided by the
editors, this central theme is cleverly interwoven like a common thread throughout all
the twenty chapters of the book and forms the foundation of the story of how relations of
Cambodia with regional and global powers have shaped Cambodia’s destiny in the modern
world. This book includes materials not addressed in previous works on these subjects, and
as such, makes it a fascinating read and marks it as an important contribution to the corpus
of books covering the impacts of geopolitical politics on Cambodia.
Though I am an Indonesian, I have been lucky to be an eyewitness to Cambodian
history in one capacity or another since the 1970s until today. I became acutely aware of
the Cambodian tragedy when I was stationed as an economist with the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok from 1963
to 1981 during which time neighboring Cambodia, which enjoyed peace in the 1960s but
was in constant turmoil since 1970 and was since 1975 hermetically sealed from the world
by Pol Pot’s genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. Then, from my vantage point in Bangkok, one
could not help but notice that following the liberation of Cambodia from Khmer Rouge rule
by the Vietnamese army supported by Cambodian rebels united under the United Front for
the National Salvation of Cambodia (UFNSK), the full story of the brutality of life under Pol
Pot’s genocidal regime began to emerge.
In February 1979, together with some colleagues, I visited the area south of Aranyaprathet,
a small border town in eastern Thailand, where we watched in shock as ghastly frail people
with wide, empty eyes stumbled out of the dense Cambodian forests one by one and
collapsed on Thai soil by the thousands. I could not hold my tears seeing all that misery and
ix
immediately cabled the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New
York volunteering to serve in Cambodia as a peacekeeper.
Unfortunately, because of political maneuverings in the United Nations in New York, it
took 12 years before I was finally sent to Cambodia. Meanwhile in 1981, I was transferred
to the United Nations headquarters in New York where I watched, again as an eyewitness,
the intensive lobbying in the United Nations. During 1979 to 1991 Cambodia effectively had
two governments side by side, each recognized by a different group of external powers. First,
there was the “People’s Republic of Kampuchea” (PRK) later renamed State of Cambodia
(SOC), led since 1985 by Prime Minister Hun Sen, which was de facto in effective control
of 80–90 percent of the country. The PRK was recognized by the Soviet Union, its allies,
India and others. Secondly, there was a “counter government” known as the “Coalition
Government of Democratic Kampuchea” (CGDK) established in 1982 and led by Prince
Sihanouk consisting of the republican Khmer People’s National Liberation Front (KPNLF),
the Khmer Rouge’s Party of Democratic Kampuchea and the Royalists’ United National
Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC). It
controlled the refugee camps in Thailand and some slivers of land inside Cambodia and was
recognized by the West, China, the ASEAN six (at the time) and other countries.
From 1982 to 1991, spearheaded by the United States, China and the ASEAN six, a
resolution was adopted every year by the United Nations General Assembly incredibly
recognizing the CGDK and not the PRK/SOC as the legitimate government of Cambodia.
The sponsors argued that Vietnam should never have invaded Cambodia never mind that
their action has put an end to the Khmer Rouge’s massacre of 1.7 million Cambodians. This
gave the Khmer Rouge a new lease on life, and I watched in disgust as the Khmer Rouge
ambassador Thioun Prasiddh pranced about the diplomatic receptions in New York telling
every ambassador how bad that PRK government was and to please continue to vote for the
CGDK as the legitimate representative of Cambodia. I never shook his hand.
During the stalemate, the PRK was ostracized economically and politically by the western
donor community thereby prolonging the suffering of the Cambodian people for another 11
years. A real breakthrough only became possible when the Cambodians judged themselves
ready for it. In 1987, Prince Sihanouk and Hun Sen, leaders of the two opposing forces, the
CGDK and the SOC, came together for two historic meetings near Paris to finally break the
stalemate. After that, a confluence of favorable factors led to the signing of the Paris Peace
Agreements by 19 signatory states including Cambodia in Paris on 23 October 1991. The
UN Secretary General signed as a witness.
The Paris Peace Agreements were finally able to break the decade-long stalemate.
It stipulated that the United Nations itself would take control of the administration of
Cambodia until it had successfully conducted elections for a new government. However,
since the UN cannot put a sovereign member state under trusteeship, a Supreme National
Council (SNC) was established to serve as “the unique legitimate body and source of
authority” in Cambodia throughout the transition period. Chaired by Sihanouk, it consisted
of six representatives of the SOC and two each from the Khmer Rouge, FUNCINPEC and
KPNLF. The Paris Peace Agreements then stipulated that the SNC delegate all powers
x
necessary to UNTAC to implement the agreements. It was envisaged that the SNC would
serve largely as a symbolic body, a forum for reconciliation and some very minimal powers
of governance.
The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) was created to
implement the provisions of the Paris Agreements. At an estimated cost of USD 1.7 billion,
UNTAC had an authorized strength of 15,547 troops and 893 military observers from 34
countries, 3,500 civilian police from 32 countries, 1,149 civilian staff and 465 UN volunteers
as well as a 56,000-strong Cambodian supporting staff. UNTAC had an unprecedented
mandate and powers, the most important were to conduct free and fair elections, to
repatriate the 370,000 refugees in the camps in Thailand, and to demobilize at least 70 % of
the military forces of the four factions. Yasushi Akashi of Japan was appointed as the Special
Representative of the Secretary General to head UNTAC. He made me he provincial director
of Siem Reap, one of twenty such directors. I was delighted. As the provincial director of
Siem Reap province, my main tasks, as UNTAC’s shadow governor, were supposedly to
supervise and control the existing administrative structure, i.e. the State of Cambodia
(SOC), as well as to coordinate the activities of all components of UNTAC at the provincial
level through frequent coordination meetings and to approve the opening up of offices of all
political parties in the run up to the elections.
The Khmer Rouge refused to be disarmed so UNTAC failed to carry out its mandate
of demobilizing the Cambodian forces. But UNTAC had achieved two major successes:
The first is the complete repatriation of 370,000 refugees from border camps in Thailand.
But UNTAC’s key success was undoubtedly the organization and conduct of Cambodia’s
elections in 1993. An estimated 4.3 million Cambodians, 89.5 percent of the registered voters,
cast their vote between 23 and 28 May 1993. This ended UNTAC’s role, and the Constituent
Assembly consisting of the 120 elected deputies drafted a new constitution which was ratified
on 21 September 1993. The Assembly then proclaimed Sihanouk constitutional monarch
with virtually all executive power vested in the two prime ministers: Prince Ranariddh
and Samdech Hun Sen. UNTAC completed its withdrawal on 15 November 1993. I left
Cambodia in September 1993 and returned to the United Nations in New York.
In November 1993, the Secretary-General of the UN, Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali
appointed me as his personal envoy to the new government in Cambodia. I was overjoyed as
I consider Cambodia now my second home. The Royal Government of Cambodia granted
me equal status of the 20 ambassadors from countries accredited to the RGC. Arriving in
Phnom Penh this time I encountered a different Cambodia. Yes, the people were still poor
but there was a general atmosphere of pride and confidence. The successful elections were a
watershed as it started a new era in Cambodia in which Cambodia now has one government
recognized by all governments of the world. Foreign aid and foreign investment poured
in at a rapid pace as if the donors wanted to make up for having denied it to Cambodia
throughout the 1980s. I could feel excitement everywhere and I finished my tour of duty in
1997. However, I have continued to come to Cambodia every year after that until today as
a board member of two Non-Governmental Organizations dealing with education and to
engage in other activities including giving lectures at universities.
xi
Here are some highlights of the five chapters which I have identified earlier as having
shaped the central theme of this book. The introductory Chapter 1 by Dr. Path Kosal
discusses the interplay between each Cambodian regime’s political order and their foreign
relations from the end of World War II in 1945 through the end of Cambodia’s civil war
in 1998. Dr. Path Kosal concludes that the year 1998 marked a major turning point in
Cambodia’s search for peace and unity. In July of that year, the Cambodian People’s Party
won the national election and Prime Minister Hun Sen’s “Win-Win” policy focused on
national reconciliation, national unity, and economic development, while finally effectively
bringing an end to the Khmer Rouge political and military organization after nearly thirty
years.
Chapter 20, the last chapter, written by Mr. You Sokunpanha, shows conclusively that
between the watershed 1993 elections and 2015, Cambodia’s gross domestic product rose
more than seven times in real terms, suggesting an average annual growth rate of close to
eight percent, among the highest in the world. In current dollars, a Cambodian today makes
close to USD 1,200 a year, or an incredible four and a half times what Cambodians made
in 1993. He notes that the World Bank officially revised Cambodia’s economy from lowincome to lower-middle-income status in July 2016.
The constantly evolving juxtaposition of Cambodia’s relations with the three Superpowers
China (Chapter 12), the USA (Chapter 13) and the Soviet Union later Russia (Chapter 14)
makes for fascinating reading. These chapters reveal that politically, during the early 1970s
and again in the 1980s, the United Nations General Assembly annually had to decide who
represented Cambodia, a de facto government or an insurgent/exile coalition. In the early
1970s, it placed China and the USSR on the one hand against the United States on the other
but in the 1980s there emerged “the Cambodian problem” in the United Nations which
exacerbated disputes between the USSR on the one hand versus China and the United
States on the other. After the UNTAC elections they all joined together to support the newly
elected Royal Government of Cambodia.
Mr. Bulut in Chapter 13 argues that especially after the 1950s, the whole world became
a competition ground for the Soviets and the Americans. It was the side effects of this
ideology-driven geopolitical rivalry that brought Cambodia into the picture and made it
pay a heavy price as collateral damage in the Soviet-American proxy war in Vietnam. Like
many other small states in the international structure, Cambodia found itself in a game
that it did not start nor was it ready to play. Today, he argues that while US–Cambodian
relations are still haunted by the nightmares of 1970s and 80s, the current relationship is one
of economic pragmatism, with human rights issues lurking in the background. He reasons
that the fragile relationship between the US and Cambodia is not just determined by the
two but rather has been shaped within the context of time and an important third party:
China. Like in the early 60’s, he contends, when the relationships soured, Cambodia looked
to China to compensate and balance the US. While the Cold War is no more, the delicate
game of balance between China and the US is still prevalent for Cambodia.
In Chapter 14 on relations with Russia, Dr. Teng Delux writes that after the liberation
of Cambodia by the Vietnamese army, the USSR and its allies were the main supporters of
xii
the PRK/SOC, the de facto government of Cambodia. He continues that because during
the 1980s the PRK/SOC was ostracized by the West, the only aid it received was from the
socialist countries at an annual volume of USD 100 million, of which more than USD 80
million came from the USSR. Without this aid the PRK would have had enormous difficulties
to survive in the 1980s. After the UNTAC elections, aid poured in at a rapid pace, mainly
from western countries and Japan. Russia, which replaced the USSR, is playing a relatively
diminished role in post-UNTAC Cambodia. Mr. Chanborey in Chapter 12 on relations with
China describes the constantly evolving relations between China and Cambodia over the
years: from China being a poor country in the 70's supporting the Khmer Rouge to recently
becoming the second largest economy in the world in which China became Cambodia’s top
investor and aid provider. With increasing aid came increasing political influence of China,
he also shows.
In between these chapters we find 15 interesting and equally strong chapters written by
reputable Cambodian and foreign scholars and practitioners. All these chapters provide
extensive references and endnotes from the internet which makes the book very useful as
a textbook. Part II deals with relations with neighboring counties. Cambodia’s geography
of being sandwiched by two powerful, and historically antagonistic neighbors—Thailand
and Vietnam—had been a persistent compelling factor shaping the country’s foreign
policy. The editors have therefore wisely invited authors from each respective country to
contribute a chapter to give the reader a balanced view. Chapter 6 on relations with Laos was
written by Ambassador Julio Jeldres, a well-known author on Cambodian issues. Chapter
7 on Cambodia’s relations with maritime Southeast Asia written by Dr. Alvin Lim from
Singapore analyzes the increasingly important relations with these countries, especially in
the context of ASEAN countries today, while tracing the links of precolonial Cambodia with
Java through Prince Jayavarman II who spent some time in Java and with Malaysia through
the ties between the Cambodian Cham minority with those in the Malay sultanates.
Part III consists of three chapters on relations with regional “middle powers” Japan,
Australia and South Korea emphasizing the recent rapidly rising economic ties including
foreign aid and foreign trade relations with these countries but indicating that both Japan and
Australia played an important role in the search for a solution of the Cambodian impasses
in the 1980s. In Chapter 8, on relations with the European Union the author points out
that although the relations between Cambodia and the European Union are rather young,
relations with member states of the EU such as France and Germany have always been quite
important. He therefore includes short sections on relations with these two countries. The
authors of Chapter 15 on India admit that India-Cambodia economic ties remain relatively
minor but note the enormous impact Indian culture had on Cambodia.
The book would not have been complete without the inclusion of Part IV on Cambodia’s
membership in Regional and International Organizations and Part V dealing with
Economic Integration, Security Cooperation and Challenges. Because of Cambodia’s
unique relations with the United Nations, the reader’s attention is drawn in particular to
Chapter 17 by Ambassador Sun Suon who skillfully guides the readers, through the complex
period of United Nations’ involvement in the “Cambodian issue” particularly from 1979 to
xiii
the UNTAC elections of 1993 and beyond. Also significant is Chapter 16 on Cambodia’s
relations with ASEAN, tracing such relations back to the 1980s when the ASEAN six
was siding with the US and China until today in which Cambodia is a proud member of
the increasingly wealthy ASEAN ten alliance striving to achieve the goals of the ASEAN
Economic Community.
During today’s period of rapid economic growth in Cambodia, there is a rising middle
class of predominantly young Cambodians born after the Khmer Rouge period who have
a thirst for knowledge about their country’s past. This book, originally envisioned as a
textbook by the editors, is a rich source of information on the role of foreign intervention
in Cambodia and will serve interests of students in enhancing their knowledge in this area.
The book’s utility, however, goes beyond the classroom. I concur with the editors that
this book also serves as a useful handbook on foreign affairs for both academics and the
general public. Moreover, I would go a step further by saying that the increasing pivot of
ASEAN countries, including Cambodia, towards China economically as well as politically
has sparked a renewed interest internationally for books such as this. I anticipate there will
be a high demand for this book not only in Cambodia, but also internationally, and that the
book will be among the best sellers on Cambodia and on Southeast Asia.
Dr. Benny Widyono
Author of Dancing in Shadows: Sihanouk,
the Khmer Rouge, and the United Nations in Cambodia
xiv
PREFACE
A look at Cambodia’s history and present shows the multifaceted nature of its foreign
relations and how the relations have shaped the political, socio-cultural and economic
landscapes of the Kingdom. In this regard, foreign relations, simply put, the relations
between Cambodia and other states or international institutions, have been a double-edged
sword. On one side, there were conflicts, war and diplomatic tensions due to reasons of
ideology and national interest, imperialism and mutual misunderstanding. A case in point
is the Preah Vihear conflict between Thailand and Cambodia as well as the Indochina war in
the 60's and bombardment against Cambodia in the 70's. On the other side, foreign relations
have been a source of inspiration, cooperation and development. New political and economic
ideas have been exchanged across borders and led to growth and prosperity. Common
international environmental and security challenges have been tackled in a cooperative
based on the shared vision. There are countless examples buttressing the positive effects of
cooperation, such as the UNTAC peace mission, the results of development cooperation
and ASEAN. Even if it is not always easy to bring stakeholders together, to create a common
basis of mutual understanding, to design cross border decision-making procedures or to
overcome national interests and historical resentments, the avoidance of war and insecurity
is worth all the efforts.
Cambodia has, since 1991, deepened and extended its foreign relations with regional
and international partners, always envisioning the relevance of national stability, national
interests and sovereignty. It is due to the importance of Cambodia's foreign relations
that Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Cambodia, in cooperation with the editors of this
book, decided to create a comprehensive source of information on the Foreign Relations in
Regional and Global Contexts of the Kingdom of Cambodia. As there is, to-date, a limited
number of publications available, we believe that this book serves as a useful guide into the
different relations and dynamics between Cambodia and its diverse cooperation partners.
We hope that the publication will be a comprehensive and thought-provoking contribution
to the academic field of foreign relations and international studies as well as to all interested
people.
One particular aim of the book has been to motivate Cambodian scholars and students
to academically engage with research questions about the relations of Cambodia with
other countries and contribute with their articles towards the analysis and general better
understanding of Cambodia’s foreign relations.
We express our appreciation to the editors, who all have been cooperating with KonradAdenauer-Stiftung Cambodia in a professional, constructive and target-oriented way.
Moreover, we would like to express our gratitude to the authors, who shared their deep
insights and expertise of their specific research field. Against this backdrop, we would like to
clarify that all opinions expressed by the authors in this book are theirs exclusively. Finally, I
would like to thank Robert Hör, KAS Cambodia Research Associate, for his ceaseless efforts
to coordinate the editing process and Phang Sokla, KAS Cambodia Office Manager, for his
xv
patient mastery of the layouting and graphic design of the book.
“Our enemies of today are not other nations. Our enemies of today are poverty,
ignorance, disease and discrimination. What we need is co-operation based
on the idea that the entire world is one human family. Ignorance and lack of
understanding among Asian, African and Western nations is the greatest danger
we are facing today.”
Closing with this quote of Konrad Adenauer, first chancellor of the Federal Republic of
Germany after World War II, we wish all readers an inspirational and thought-provoking
journey through Cambodia’s foreign relations!
Phnom Penh, December 2017
René Gradwohl
Country Representative
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
Kingdom of Cambodia
xvi
LIST OF BIOGRAPHIES
EDITORS:
Dr. Deth Sok Udom
Dr. Deth Sok Udom is Associate Professor of International Relations and Rector of
Zaman University. Dr. Deth finished his Bachelor’s degree with High Honors in Sociology
at Boĝaziçi University (Turkey), a Master’s degree in Southeast Asian Studies at Ohio
University (USA), and a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian Studies at Humboldt University of Berlin
(Germany). He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation
and Peace (CICP) and a member of the Pacific Forum Young Leaders program (Center for
Strategic and International Studies). Dr. Deth is credited with several academic publications
and has been invited to give guest lectures at various institutions/universities and has given
a number of interviews to local and regional media on Cambodian and regional affairs.
Ambassador Sun Suon, Ph.D
Dr. Sun Suon is formerly Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the
UN office, the WTO and Other International Organizations at Geneva (2007-2013). He was
concurrently accredited as Ambassador of Cambodia to Switzerland and as the country’s
Permanent Representative to the UNIDO in Vienna (with residence in Geneva). His
previous posting was in New York where he served as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent
Representative of Cambodia to the United Nations (1999-2003).
Ambassador Suon is formerly a senior career diplomat at the Cambodia’s foreign service.
He has been associated with various academic institutions. He studied law at Sofia University
“St. Kliment Ohridski” (Bulgaria), where he earned a Law degree (Jurist/LLM) and a Ph.D
in Jurisprudence (International Law). He also holds a Master of Arts degree in International
Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (USA). At
present, Ambassador Suon teaches international law and other courses of international
affairs at Zaman University.
Mr Serkan Bulut
Serkan Bulut is an alumnus of Bogazici and Bilkent Universities in Turkey and the
University of Delaware in the United States. Currently he is a Research Fellow at CICP
focusing on civil-military relations and foreign policy analysis. His publications on Southeast
Asia cover geopolitics, civil-military relations and their reflection on foreign and security
xvii
policy making processes. He has lived, traveled and done research in various Southeast
Asian countries and presented his work in various international avenues. Mr. Bulut assumed
roles in several national and international organizations such as the Turkish Grand National
Assembly and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in various capacities.
AUTHORS:
Dr. Path Kosal
Chapter 1: Introduction: Cambodia’s Political History and Foreign Relations,
1945-1998 (Page 5)
Dr. Path Kosal is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College, The City
University of New York. Previously he was lecturer of International Relations at the University
of Southern California. Dr. Path received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in International
Relations from the University of Southern California (Los Angeles), and Bachelor degree of
International Law at the National University of Management (Phnom Penh). He served as
deputy director of the Phnom Penh-based Documentation Center of Cambodia from 1997
to 2000. His current research focuses the Third Indochina War between Vietnam, Cambodia
and China, 1975-1989.
Dr. Deth Sok Udom
Chapter 2: An Overview of Cambodia-Thailand Relations:
From Hostility to Harmony? (Page 27)
Dr. Deth Sok Udom is Associate Professor of International Relations and Rector of Zaman
University. Dr. Deth finished his Bachelor’s degree with High Honors in Sociology at Boĝaziçi
University (Turkey), a Master’s degree in Southeast Asian Studies at Ohio University (USA),
and a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian Studies from Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany). He
is concurrently a Senior Research Fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and
Peace (CICP) and and a member of the Pacific Forum Young Leaders program (Center for
Strategic and International Studies). He is credited with several academic publications and
has been invited to give guest lectures at various institutions/universities and has given a
number of interviews to local and regional media on Cambodian and regional affairs.
xviii
Dr. Morakot Meyer
Chapter 3: A History of the Future is Waiting to be Made: Contemplating ThaiCambodian Relations–A Thai Perspective (Page 45)
Dr. Morakot Meyer is Assistant Professor of History, Chair of Multicultural ASEAN
Center Project (MU-MAC), and Deputy Director for Research and Academic Affairs of
Mahidol University’s Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, where she
teaches Multicultural Studies. She earned her doctorate in History and Civilization from
the European University Institute in Florence. Her research interests include the politics
of cultural heritage, museum, and nationalism. In 2017, she received a Taiwan Fellowship
from Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to conduct research on museums at the Academia
Sinica, Institute of Modern History in Taipei.
Kry Suyheang
Chapter 4: Cambodia‘s Relations with Vietnam: Prospects and Challenges (Page 63)
Ms. Kry is a peace practitioner and a gender advocate. Previously, she served as the
deputy director of Anlong Veng Peace Center, a researcher focusing on the Myanmar peace
process and communal violence at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, and a victim
support officer at the Documentation Center of Cambodia. She is the co-author and colead researcher for a community action peace research on Who is listening: Tackling hard
issues with empathy. Using Facilitative Listening Design to to understand and respond to antiVietnamese sentiment in Cambodian communities. Ms. Kry holds a Master’s Degree in Peace
and Conflict Studies from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA, and a Bachelor of
Education from the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
Chy Terith
Chapter 4: Cambodia’s Relations with Vietnam: Prospects and Challenges (Page 63)
Chy Terith (MA, LL.M) is an independent researcher. Through his previous work, Terith
conducted research on anti-corruption, gender-based violence, rule of law, and other critical
issues relevant to the Cambodian laws, governance and political context. In 2014, Terith
authored a book titled When the Criminal Laughs and co-authored another book chapter,
“Including Survivors in the Tribunal Process” in On Trial: The Khmer Rouge Accountability
Process in 2009.
xix
Dr. Nguyen Vu Tung
Chapter 5: Vietnam-Cambodia Relations: An Analysis from
a Vietnamese Perspective (Page 83)
Dr. Nguyen Vu Tung is a professor at and the president of the Diplomatic Academy of
Vietnam (DAV). He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the Vietnam Embassy in the United States.
He earned a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from the Fletcher School
of Law and Diplomacy in 1998 and received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia
University (New York City) in 2003.
His main areas of teaching, research, and publications include international relations
theories, international relations in Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific, Vietnamese foreign
policy and relations with the United States, China, and ASEAN.
Ambassador Julio A. Jeldres, Ph.D
Chapter 6: Cambodia’s Relations with Laos: In the Shadow of China (Page 101)
Ambassador Julio A. Jeldres was born in Santiago de Chile. He became interested in
Cambodia’s contemporary history in 1967, following the visit of Jacqueline Kennedy to
Cambodia. He began a correspondence and long-standing friendship with His Late Majesty
King Norodom Sihanouk in late 1967. He served as Deputy Chief of Cabinet, Chief of the
Private Secretariat and Special Assistant to His Late Majesty from 1981 to 1991 and as Official
Biographer since 1993. He holds a Ph.D from Monash University (2015) and is author of
several books, book chapters and research papers on Cambodia’s external relations, politics,
the monarchy, the Royal Family and the late King Father. He is an Adjunct Research Fellow
at Monash University’s School of Historical Studies and International Relations.
Dr. Alvin Cheng-Hin Lim
Chapter 7: Cambodia and Maritime Southeast Asia (Page 117)
Dr. Alvin Cheng-Hin Lim is a research fellow with International Public Policy Pte. Ltd.,
and is the author of Cambodia and the Politics of Aesthetics (Routledge, 2013). He received
his Ph.D in Political Science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and has taught at
Pannasastra University of Cambodia and the American University of Nigeria.
xx
Robert Hör
Chapter 8: European Union-Cambodia Relations (Page 135)
Mr. Robert Hör is a Research Associate at Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Cambodia
since 2016. He completed his B.A. degree in European Studies at the University of Passau
(Germany). His major fields of study were the European institutions as well as development
cooperation. In his current position he is administrating and conducting several scientific
and development-oriented projects related to the work of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in
Cambodia.
Leng Thearith
Chapter 9: Australia’s Role in Cambodia:
More than a Peacemaking Architect (Page 161)
Mr. Leng Thearith completed his bachelor degree in International Relations at the
Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam in 2003, and his M.A. in International Peace Studies at the
International University of Japan (IUJ) in 2007 with honors. Mr. Thearith was involved with
a Japanese peace-building program mandated to eradicate small arms and light weapons
in Cambodia for more than two years. Between 2006 and 2011, he worked for the General
Department of ASEAN of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of
Cambodia. He has been awarded an Australian Endeavour Award to undertake his Ph.D in
Political and International Studies at the University of New South Wales at the Australian
Defence Force Academy in early 2014. His research interests include small states’ foreign
policies, ASEAN and Chinese politics, regional integration and governance.
Dr. Leang Sim Onn
Chapter 10: Cambodia-Japan Relations: the Bumpy and Winding Road to
the Strategic Partnership and Beyond (Page 179)
Dr. Leang Sim Onn received his Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) in 2006 from the Institute
of Foreign Languages of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, where he has been working
as a faculty member. In 2007, he was nominated by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and
Sport of Cambodia as an official faculty member of this public university. In 2008, he was
nominated as a Monbusho scholar (research student) by the Japanese Government through
the Japanese Embassy in Phnom Penh. In 2009, he received a diploma from the United
Nations University in Tokyo, specializing in Development Studies (New Challenges in
International Development, Sustainability and Vulnerability in a Globalizing World). He
earned his M.A. in International Relations in 2011 and his Ph.D in International Studies in
2014 from Waseda University, Japan.
xxi
Bin Rasmeykanyka
Chapter 11: Cambodia-Korea Relations: Bilateral Cooperations and
the Changing Dynamics of Triangular Affairs (Page 205)
Bin Rasmeykanyka is currently a project manager at Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Cambodia.
She holds a Bachelor Degree of Arts majoring in Politics, Philosophy & Economics (PPE)
from Asian University for Women, Bangladesh and Division of Economics from Sookmyung
Women’s University, South Korea. Her time at Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul
aspires her to learn more about social, economic and political aspects of the country and
specifically, the relations between Korea and her own country, Cambodia. The fundamental
knowledge she attained from her courses at Sookmyung such as: Special Topics in Korean
Economics, Korean Politics and Foreign Policy, In Search of Korean Culture and So forth
creates further interests in learning more about the country’s current issues. She certainly
hopes her contribution of the chapter to this book. will serve as an additional source to
academia.
Cheunboran Chanborey
Chapter 12: Cambodia-China Relations: What Do Cambodia’s
Past Strategic Directions Tell Us? (Page 227)
Mr. Cheunboran Chanborey is a Ph.D candidate at the Strategic and Defence Studies
Centre (SDSC), the Australian National University. He is also a lecturer of International
Relations at the Department of International Studies, Royal University of Phnom Penh, and
a Research Fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies. Prior to joining SDSC,
he was an official at Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
(currently on study leave). He earned a Master in Public Management from the Lee Kuan Yew
School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, in conjunction with the John F.
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; M.A. in Diplomacy and International
Studies from Rangsit University, Thailand; and B.A. in International Relations from the
Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.
Serkan BULUT
Chapter 13: Cambodia–United States Relations:
from Early Encounters to Post-Cold War (Page 249)
Serkan Bulut is an alumnus of Bogazici and Bilkent Universities in Turkey and the
University of Delaware in the United States. Currently he is a Research Fellow at CICP
focusing on civil-military relations and foreign policy analysis. His publications on Southeast
Asia cover geopolitics, civil-military relations and their reflection on foreign and security
policy making processes. He has lived, traveled and done research in various Southeast
xxii
Asian countries and presented his work in various international avenues. Mr. Bulut assumed
roles in several national and international organizations such as the Turkish Grand National
Assembly and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in various capacities.
Dr. Teng Delux
Chapter 14: Cambodia-Russia Relations (Page 269)
Dr. Teng Delux was born in Phnom Penh in 1985. He received the Diploma of International
Investment in 2009 from Belgorod State University, Russia. In 2011, he earned a Ph.D of
World Economy from Southern Federal University and Diploma of State and Municipal
Management from Institute of State and Municipal Management, Belgorod State National
Research University, Russia. He is currently an associate professor and teaching at several
universities in Cambodia.
Anirudh S. Bhati
Chapter 15: Cambodia-India Relations (Page 291)
Anirudh Singh Bhati is an India-qualified lawyer with over six years of experience
counseling clients in Cambodia and India. He obtained dual degrees in commerce and law
from Gujarat National Law University in India. He is attached as counsel with a Cambodian
firm providing legal consulting services in Cambodia. He has also worked with international
organizations in Cambodia as a consultant on policy-related matters. He is a co-founder of
the Greater Mekong Research Center, a non-profit organization that conducts research and
provides training in law, economics and public policy. Anirudh is admitted to practice as an
advocate with the Bar Council of India and the state Bar Council of Gujarat.
Dr. Bradley J. Murg
Chapter 15: Cambodia-India Relations (Page 291)
Dr. Bradley Jensen Murg is assistant professor of political science and director of global
development studies at Seattle Pacific University and affiliate professor at the Henry M.
Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. Dr. Murg's research,
supported by grants from the Social Science Research Council and the International
Research and Exchanges Board, focuses on legal reform, the political economy of foreign
aid, and economic development in the Mekong region, China, and the former Soviet Union.
His current work as research director at the Greater Mekong Research Center explores the
history of foreign aid in Cambodia, paying particular attention to Soviet assistance in the
1980s as well as Chinese aid and investment today. Dr. Murg graduated Phi Beta Kappa
from Emory University with a BA/MA in philosophy, received his MSc. in economic history
xxiii
from the London School of Economics, and his M.A. and Ph.D in political science from the
University of Washington. Dr. Murg has worked in Asia for nearly 20 years, initially having
moved to the region as a Henry Luce Scholar at the Asian Development Bank in 2000.
Sam Ath Sambath Sreysour
Chapter 16: Cambodia in the ASEAN Context (Page 311)
Ms. Sambath Sreysour is currently an Academic Research & Project Coordinator
and a part-time lecturer of foreign policy and Asia-Pacific studies at the Department of
International Studies of Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL) at the Royal University
of Phnom Penh. As a Chevening scholar and a former recipient of Cambodian national
undergraduate scholarship, she earned her M.A. in International Politics-International
Relations from University of Manchester, England, and B.A. in International Studies (with
honors) and B.A. in English for Professional Communication together with Professional
Certificate in Translation and Interpreting from IFL. She is also a member of the United
Nations Association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Her M.A. dissertation focuses
on the internalizing roles of ASEAN and its institutions to socialize China for relative peace
in the South China Sea since 1995. And, her B.A thesis focuses on the roles that different
levels of regional institutionalization in ASEAN and EU have been able to make to regional
peace and security. Her overall areas of interest cover the dynamics of foreign policies in the
Asia-Pacific, global and regional governance, and peace and conflict resolution.
Dr. Oum Sothea
Chapter 16: Cambodia in the ASEAN Context (Page 311)
Dr. Oum Sothea is currently working as consultant to the World Bank, Cambodia and
adjunct fellow at the Asian Growth Research Centre, Singapore. He was a Senior Lecturer
at Ngee Ann-Adelaide Education Centre, University of Adelaide from 2015 to 2017. Prior
to that he worked for 6 years at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia
(ERIA) in Jakarta, Indonesia as an Economist and Associate Researcher. He completed
his Ph.D in economics from Monash University, Australia, M.A. in economics from Kobe
University, Japan, and B.A from National Economics University, Hanoi, Vietnam. Besides
computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling, his research interests are on ASEAN and
East Asian integration, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Social Protection, Trade and
Finance, Disaster Management, Income Distribution, and Poverty. Among his publications,
he co-edited a book on disaster risks published by Springer and co-authored a book on
SMEs by Routledge.
xxiv
Ambassador Sun Suon, Ph.D
Chapter 17: Cambodia and the United Nations: A Multilateral Engagement (Page 335)
Dr. Sun Suon is formerly Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the
UN office, the WTO and Other International Organizations at Geneva (2007-2013). He was
concurrently accredited as Ambassador of Cambodia to Switzerland and as the country’s
Permanent Representative to the UNIDO in Vienna (with residence in Geneva). His
previous posting was in New York where he served as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent
Representative of Cambodia to the United Nations (1999-2003).
Ambassador Suon is formerly a senior career diplomat at the Cambodia’s foreign service.
He has been associated with various academic institutions. He studied law at Sofia University
“St. Kliment Ohridski” (Bulgaria), where he earned a Law degree (Jurist/LLM) and a Ph.D
in Jurisprudence (International Law). He also holds a Master of Arts degree in International
Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (USA). At
present, Ambassador Suon teaches international law and other courses of international
affairs at Zaman University.
Var Veasna
Chapter 18: Cambodia's Defense Policy and Strategic Environment: Contemporary
Issues, Challenges and the Way Forward (Page 365)
Mr. Var Veasna is a Ph.D candidate in Political and International Studies at the University
of New South Wales (UNSW) at the Australian Defense Force Academy (ADFA), Canberra.
He joined the Cambodia Institute for Strategic Studies (CISS) as a Research Fellow in 2015.
He received three Master’s Degrees in strategic and defense studies from the 7th Graduate
School of Security Studies, National Defense Academy of Japan (NDA) in 2005; the
Australian Defense College, the Center for Defense and Strategic Studies (CDSS) in 2011
and most recently, the U.S. Army War College in 2014. His primary research interests are
China’s foreign and development policy towards developing countries, Chinese foreign and
security policy, Asia Pacific security and Cambodia-China relations.
xxv
Dr. Chheang Vannarith
Chapter 19: Greater Mekong Subregional Cooperation (GMS) and
Cambodia’s Foreign Policy (Page 387)
Dr. Chheang Vannarith is a Senior Research Fellow and member of the Board of
Directors at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace where he served as an
Executive Director from 2009 to 2013. He earned his B.A. in International Relations from
the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam in Hanoi in 2002, M.A. in International Relations from
the International University of Japan in Niigata in 2006, and Ph.D in Asia Pacific Studies
from the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Oita in 2009.
You Sokunpanha
Chapter 20: Cambodia’s Integration in Global Economic and
Financial Systems (Page 413)
You Sokunpanha is Head of Strategy & Business Development at Smart Axiata, where
he leads strategic projects and investments. Before joining Smart, he was a banker and cofounder of an education non-profit. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the
Singapore Management University and a Master of Public Policy from the University of
Michigan. He was a recipient of the Singapore Scholarship and the Fulbright Fellowship.
xxvi
ABBREVIATIONS
ACD ������������������������ Asia Cooperation Dialogue
ACFTA ������������������� ASEAN-China Free Trade Area
ACMEC ������������������ Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economics Cooperation Strategy
ADB ������������������������ Asian Development Bank
ADMM Plus ���������� ASEAN Defense Ministerial Meeting Plus
ADIZ ����������������������� Air Defense Identification Zone
AEC ������������������������� ASEAN Economic Community
AFTA ���������������������� ASEAN Free Trade Area
AHRD �������������������� ASEAN Human Rights Declaration
AIIB ������������������������ Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
AKFTA ������������������ ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement
APPF ��������������������� Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum
APSC ��������������������� ASEAN Political-Security Community
APT ������������������������ ASEAN + 3
ARF ������������������������ ASEAN Regional Forum
ARMAC ���������������� ASEAN Regional Mines Centre
ASCC ��������������������� ASEAN Socio-cultural Community
ASEAN ������������������ Association of Southeast Asian Nations
ASEM �������������������� Asia-Europe Meeting
ATT ������������������������ Arms Trade Treaty
AUN ����������������������� ASEAN University Network
BRICS �������������������� Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
B&R/BRI ��������������� Belt and Road Initiative
CDC ����������������������� Council for the Development of Cambodia
CDCF ��������������������� Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum
CEPT ���������������������� Common Effective Preferential Tariffs
CGDK �������������������� Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea
CIA ������������������������� Central Intelligence Agency
CICP ����������������������� Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace
CLMV �������������������� Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam
CLV-DTA �������������� Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area
CMAA ������������������� Cambodian Mine Action Authority
CNRP ��������������������� Cambodian National Rescue Party
CPK ������������������������ Communist Party of Kampuchea
CPP ������������������������ Cambodian People’s Party
CRDB/CDC ���������� Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board /Council for the
Development of Cambodia
CSW ����������������������� Commission of the Status of Women;
xxvii
DK �������������������������� Democratic Kampuchea
DRV ����������������������� Democratic Republic of Vietnam
EAS ������������������������ East Asia Summit
EC ��������������������������� European Community
ECCC ��������������������� Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the
Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic
Kampuchea
EBA ������������������������ Everything But Arms
EEAS ���������������������� European External Action Service
EEU ������������������������ Eurasian Economic Union
EIB �������������������������� European Investment Bank
EU ��������������������������� European Union
EWC ����������������������� East-West Economic Corridor
FDI ������������������������� Foreign Direct Investment
FONOP ����������������� Freedom of Navigation Operation
FTA ������������������������ Free Trade Agreement
FUNCINPEC �������� National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and
Cooperative Cambodia
FUNK �������������������� Front Uni National du Kampuchea
GATT ��������������������� General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GMS ����������������������� Greater Mekong Subregion
GRUNK: ���������������� French acronym for: Royal Government of the National Union of
Kampuchea (French: Gouvernement royal d'union nationale du
Kampuchéa )
GRUNC ����������������� Royal Government of National Union of Cambodia
GSP ������������������������ Generalized System of Preferences
HDI ������������������������� Human Development Index
IAEA ���������������������� International Atomic Energy Agency
IBRD ���������������������� International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
ICC ������������������������� International Criminal Court
ICJ �������������������������� International Court of Justice
ILO ������������������������� International Labour Organization
ITC �������������������������� International Trade Centre
ICTR ����������������������� International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: ICTY International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
IMF ������������������������� International Monetary Fund
IPR �������������������������� Intellectual Property Right
JICA ����������������������� Japan International Cooperation Agency
KOICA ������������������� Korea International Cooperation Agency
KPNLF ������������������� Khmer People’s National Liberation Front
KR ��������������������������� Khmer Rouge
KRT ������������������������ Khmer Rouge Tribunal
xxviii
LDC ������������������������ Least Developed Country
LPDR ��������������������� Lao People’s Democratic Republic
MDGs �������������������� Millennium Development Goals
MGC ���������������������� Mekong Ganga Cooperation
MRC ����������������������� Mekong River Commission
NAM ���������������������� Non-Alignment Movement
NCC ������������������������ National Coordination Committee;
NBC ����������������������� National Bank of Cambodia
NMAS ������������������� National Mine Action Strategy (NMAS 2010-2019)
NPT ������������������������ Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
NSEC ��������������������� North-South Economic Corridor
NSDP ��������������������� National Strategic Development Plan
OBOR �������������������� One Belt, One Road
OCA ����������������������� Overlapping Claims Area
ODA ����������������������� Official Development Assistance
OECD �������������������� Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
OHCHR ����������������� Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights
PAVN �������������������� People’s Army of Vietnam
PGI ������������������������� Principles of the Global Initiative
PCA ������������������������ Permanent Court of Arbitration
PKO ����������������������� Peacekeeping Operation (PKOs - Plural);
PPA ������������������������ Paris Peace Agreement
PRC ������������������������ People’s Republic of China
PRK ������������������������ People’s Republic of Kampuchea
PSI �������������������������� Proliferation Security Initiative;
RCAF ��������������������� Royal Cambodian Armed Forces
RCEP ��������������������� Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
RGC ������������������������ Royal Government of Cambodia
ROK ����������������������� Republic of Korea
SDGs ��������������������� Sustainable Development Goals
SEANWFZ ����������� Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty
SEATO ������������������ South East Asian Treaty Organization
SNC ������������������������ Supreme National Council
SOC ������������������������ State of Cambodia
SRSG/SR �������������� Special Representative of Secretary General/Special Rapporteur
SRV ������������������������ Socialist Republic of Vietnam
TDB ������������������������ Trade and Development Board
TFA ������������������������ Trade Facilitation Agreement
TPP ������������������������ Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
TPR ������������������������ Trade Policy Review
UFNSK ������������������ United Front of National Salvation of Kampuchea
UN �������������������������� United Nations
xxix
UNAMIC ��������������� United Nations Advance Mission in Cambodia
UNCT �������������������� United Nations Country Team
UNCTAD �������������� United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
UNDAF ����������������� United Nations Development Assistance Framework for 2016-2018
UNDP �������������������� United Nations Development Program
UN ESCAP ����������� United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific
UNESCO ��������������� United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNFPA ����������������� United Nations Population Fund
UNGA �������������������� United Nations General Assembly
UNIDO ������������������ United Nations Industrial development Organization
UNOPS ����������������� United Nations Office for Project Services
UNPKO ����������������� United Nations Peacekeeping Operation
UNSC ��������������������� United Nations Security Council
UNTAC ����������������� United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia
USSR ��������������������� Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
UXO ����������������������� Unexploded Ordnance
WB ������������������������� World Bank
WHC ���������������������� World Heritage Committee
WHO ���������������������� World Health Organization
WIPO ��������������������� World Intellectual Property Organization
WMD ��������������������� Weapons of Mass Destruction
WTO ���������������������� World Trade Organization
ZOPFAN ��������������� Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality
xxx
ABOUT THIS BOOK:
A READERS’ GUIDE
Since independence in 1953, Cambodia as a small country in Southeast Asia had gone
through domestic political turbulences and suffered from the repercussions of the Cold War
conflicts, especially during the Indochina Wars. Following the Paris Peace Agreements in
1991, Cambodia has integrated into the global economy and has become an active member of
the international community, particularly after the accession into the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1999 and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2004.
While there has been a considerable increase in journal articles, op-eds and media
reporting on Cambodia’s foreign affairs, there had not been a book that provides a
comprehensive discussion on Cambodia’s foreign relations in historical and contemporary
contexts across the regions. This volume, titled Cambodia’s Foreign Relations in Regional
and Global Contexts, is comprised of 20 chapters—authored by more than 20 Cambodian
and international academics who are specialized in international affairs with a focus on
Cambodia.
This book is divided into five main parts: Part I includes this Readers’ Guide of the
Editors Board and an introduction chapter (Chapter 1), which discusses the interplay
between each Cambodian regime’s political order and their foreign relations from the end
of World War II in 1945 through the end of Cambodia’s civil war in 1998. In doing so,
the chapter provides a broad overview of each political regime’s vision of the country and
their respective pursuit of national interests within the constraints of the changing structure
of regional and international politics. The chapter then concludes with a brief reflection
Readers' Guide | 1
about historical lessons and future orientation of Cambodia’s domestic and foreign policy.
Part II: Relations with Neighboring Countries and Maritime Southeast Asia, comprised
of six chapters (Chapters 2–7), examines Cambodia’s relations with neighboring countries,
namely Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos, as well as with countries in maritime Southeast Asia.
It is worth noting that as Cambodia’s relations with neighboring Thailand and Vietnam
have relatively been of immense historical and political significance (at times marked by
tensions), the Editors Board decided to invite authors from each respective country to
contribute a chapter from their country’s perspective, so as to offer the readers a more
nuanced understanding of Cambodia’s complex relationships with its two larger neighbors.
Part III: Relations with Regional and Global Powers consists of 8 chapters and focuses
on Cambodia’s relations with countries and regional blocs that have had historical and
economic ties with Cambodia. These include Cambodia’s relations with the European
Union, Australia, Japan, South Korea, China, the United States, Russia, and India. Part
IV: Membership in International Organizations discusses Cambodia’s engagement with
inter-governmental bodies. It contains two chapters, each of which provides an overview of
Cambodia’s role and membership in regional and multilateral institutions by concentrating
specifically on ASEAN and the United Nations. Lastly, Part V: Economic Integration and
Security Cooperation includes chapters on Cambodia’s defense security outlook, projects
in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), as well as the discussion of Cambodia’s links
to regional integration and global economic and financial architecture through aid, trade,
investment, along with an analysis of a perspective of changing political, economic, security,
and socio-cultural landscapes of Cambodia in the region and the world.
While Cambodian foreign policy as a course is taught in relevant departments at different
universities in Cambodia, there was limited resources and few books as comprehensive as
this volume. Therefore, it is intended that this book serves as a useful reference work for
the academia as well as the public in their efforts to understand the history of Cambodian
foreign relations, as well as the opportunities and challenges in contemporary Cambodian
diplomacy. Since each chapter is meant to be a concise discussion for each topic, readers
(especially university students) are highly encouraged to consult the endnotes and references
listed at the end of each chapter for further elaboration and/or in-depth research.
While the editors of this volume provided the overall format guidelines and comments,
the individual authors are solely responsible for the final content and respective views
in each chapter, and we respect and appreciate the diversity of their opinions and their
contribution of academic expertise to this volume.
An inaugural and relatively large edited volume like this book will not be without
shortcomings. Nonetheless, we believe that this first edition will be welcomed by the
academia and the general public who are interested in Cambodia’s foreign relations, and
that the success of this book will inspire more updated and refined editions in the future. It
is our hope that this book will serve not only as a handbook on Cambodia’s foreign affairs,
but that it will also stimulate wider discussion among the academia and the public on this
topic.
2 | Cambodia’s Foreign Relations In Regional And Global Contexts
The Editors Board wish to extend immense appreciation to Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
Cambodia, country director Mr. Rene Gradwohl and his dedicated staff for their genuine
support for this book project from its inception to its end. Furthermore, it is our honor to
have the endorsement by His Excellency Dr. Sok Siphana, Advisor to the Royal Government
of Cambodia, of this book. Our special thanks also go to the former envoy of the Secretary
General of the United Nations to Cambodia and a long-time friend of Cambodia, Prof.
Benny Widyono, who agreed to write the Foreword for our book. Again, we are greatly
indebted to all the authors who dedicated their invaluable time writing their chapter and
bearing with our editorial requests from the beginning to the completion of this book.
Without their valuable contribution, this book certainly would not exist.
Last but not least, we wish to extend our appreciation to Mr. Robert Flinn, Distinguished
Professor of Creative Writing at Zaman University, and Mr. Phang Sokla, Office Manager
of KAS Cambodia, for their painstaking efforts in proofreading and digitally editing all the
chapters to ensure minimal English language errors, if any, in the texts of this book.
Editors Board
DETH Sok Udom, SUN Suon, and Serkan BULUT
Reader's Guide | 3
4 | Cambodia’s Foreign Relations In Regional And Global Contexts
1
INTRODUCTION: CAMBODIA’S
POLITICAL HISTORY AND
FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1945-1998
Dr. PATH Kosal
E
CONTENTS
I. Introduction............................................................................................................................7
II. Historical Legacies of Pre-colonial Angkor...................................................................8
III. The Sihanouk Era, 1946–1970...........................................................................................8
IV. The Lon Nol Regime, 1970-1975.....................................................................................13
V. The Khmer Rouge War with Vietnam, 1975–1979.....................................................17
VI. The People’s Republic of Kampuchea, 1979-1989.....................................................19
VII. A Rocky Road to Peace and Political Stability, 1990-1998......................................20
VIII. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................21
References.............................................................................................................................24
Chapter 1 | 5
6 | Cambodia’s Foreign Relations In Regional And Global Contexts
Dr. PATH Kosal | Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION: CAMBODIA’S
POLITICAL HISTORY AND
FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1945-19981
I. Introduction
As a small state in the changing hierarchical structure of regional and global power,
Cambodia’s quest for national unity and sovereignty occupies Cambodian national leaders’
central concern throughout the history of its domestic politics and foreign relations. Without
economic endurance and political stability, foreign powers’ meddling in Cambodia’s domestic
affairs is a constant theme of its struggle for national unity and autonomy. This chapter
is intended to provide a historical sketch of the interplay between each political regime’s
political order and their foreign relations from the end of World War II in 1945 to the end
of Cambodia’s civil war in 1998. It begins with a brief reference to the historical legacy of
the Khmer empire’s engagement with Siamese (Thailand) and Annam (Vietnam), taking
stock of how such historical legacies continued to shape different strands of Cambodia’s
modern nationalism and its relations with the two larger neighbors. At a broader level, it
provides an overview of each political regime’s vision of the country and their respective
pursuit of national interests within the constraints of the changing structure of regional and
international politics. It concludes with a brief reflection on historical lessons and future
orientation of Cambodia’s domestic and foreign policy.
Chapter 1 | 7
Dr. PATH Kosal
II. Historical Legacies of Pre-colonial Angkor
In pre-colonial period, the interstate system in Southeast Asia was governed by weak
territoriality and loose central authority known as the Mandala system composed of concentric
circles of centre-peripheral relations (Acharya, 2012, p. 61). From the 7th to the 14th century,
Angkor governed a vast Khmer empire in mainland Southeast Asia, and Angkorean Kings
at the center of power exercised divine and universal authority over their allies and vassals
who ruled the peripheral polity independently (Acharya 2012, p. 60). During this period,
the Khmer empire was a supra-regional land-based power whose greatness and glory came
primarily from territorial conquest and monument building. From the fall of Angkor (1431)
to the establishment of the French protectorate (1863), the Khmer empire was significantly
weakened by internal strife and efforts of Cambodian kings to stave off subjugation by Siam
and Vietnam (Smith, 1965, pp. 9-10). As Siam threatened to annex Cambodia from the
northwest, Annam under the Nguyen dynasty gradually absorbed Champa and increasingly
threatened the realm of the Khmer empire. A noted scholar Nguyen Van Sieu (17961872) described Khmer people as “barbarian” in a vast resource-rich territory beyond its
southern boundary (Dutton et. al., 2012, p. 263). The rivalry between Thailand and Vietnam
for control over Cambodia increased in its intensity for the first half of the 19th century.
King Norodom prevented his kingdom from being devoured by the two neighbors only by
becoming a French protectorate in 1863 (Smith, 1965, p. 16).
Notably, Angkor’s interactions with Siam and Annam during the pre-colonial era
produced a lasting metanarrative of threat from and loss of territory to Thailand and Vietnam.
Such threat perception has also been reproduced and perpetuated by Cambodian elites and
the intellectual community as post-independent Cambodia engaged in seemingly endless
territorial conflict with the two neighboring countries. Existential threats to the Cambodian
nation posed by Thailand and Vietnam almost always preoccupied Cambodian nationalists’
thinking in the post-independence era.
III. The Sihanouk Era, 1946–1970
In the aftermath of World War II, global politics evolved into the Cold War, characterized
by a bipolar system of power, intense ideological conflict and rivalry between the Soviet
Union and the United States, and the threat of nuclear war (Kim, 2014, p. 45). In the crucial
early years of the Cold War, the grand strategy of the United States was shaped by a small but
dominant group of Europe specialists at the State Department, especially Secretary of State
Dean Acheson and his chief of policy planner, George Kennan. For these Europe-Firsters, the
defense of Europe against the Soviet expansion of communism was to be prioritized over the
lesser strategic importance of Asia, given the U.S. resource scarcity (Cha, 2016, pp. 42–47).
Washington’s policies were motivated as much by strategic preferences as by a racist view of
Asian peoples. To Kennan, Southeast Asians were uncivilized and incapable of governing and
developing themselves, and if left without American and European leadership, this region
8 | Cambodia’s Foreign Relations In Regional And Global Contexts
Introduction: Cambodia’s Political History and Foreign Relations, 1945-1998
was susceptible to falling under communist control (Cha 2016, p. 50). As a consequence,
Washington abandoned its lofty ideal—extolled in the 1941 Atlantic Charter drawn up by
the U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Great Britain Prime Minister Winston
Churchill—of granting self-determination to all nations. Its Western allies hastened to
reassert their authority in their colonies around the world under the pretext of fending off
communist expansion. Like other European colonial powers, France’s return to reclaim its
colonial sovereignty over Indochina in late 1945 was met with militant nationalist resistance
and popular rebellions emboldened by a righteous belief in the right to self-determination
and the growing international movement for national liberation.
In Cambodia, the short-lived government of Son Ngoc Thanh2 from August to October
1945 adopted a pan-Indochina nationalist stance, especially in its alliance with the
communist Vietminh against France, prompting the latter to dismantle Thanh’s government
and force him into exile until 1951. On January 7, 1946, France and the new Cambodian
government led by King Norodom Sihanouk’s uncle, Prince Monireth, signed a modus
vivendi (a compromise agreement) in which France consented to Cambodia’s demands for
internal autonomy in the French union. The agreement also called for the dissolution of
many federal services, replacement of Vietnamese with Cambodians in the Cambodian civil
service, and strict control of Vietnamese immigration (Dommen, 2001, p. 138). However,
this arrangement, combined with more autonomy for Cambodia to manage its domestic
affairs in the ensuing years, failed to placate intellectuals and pro-Son Ngoc Thanh forces
that opposed continuing French control. In the first multiparty National Assembly election
of December 1947, the Democratic Party, founded by a group of intellectuals including Sim
Var, Ieu Koeuss and Prince Sisowath Yuthevong in April 1946, won 73% of the vote (Chandler,
1991, p. 30). The election was as much a victory for the Democrats as for Son Ngoc Thanh
and his anti-French nationalist movement, the Khmer Issarak. But the election victory failed
to translate into successful governance. In 1948, infighting within the Democratic Party and
an economic crisis—worsened by the security threat against the government posed by the
joint Khmer Issarak-Viet Minh insurgency in the countryside—undermined the party’s
political legitimacy (Chandler 1991, pp. 39–40). It became necessary to find an alternative
form of government that could sustain political stability.
Domestically Sihanouk solidified his image as a semi-divine ruler and firmly wielded
power to eliminate all political opponents. Sihanouk’s power play strategy of controlling and
restraining potential challengers through punishment combined with cooptation was his
hallmark as a ruler. He relied on a small circle of loyal political and military heavyweights,
including Lon Nol, to do his bidding. The political warfare in Cambodia between 1950
and 1955 was markedly characterized by weakening opposition to King Sihanouk. In 1955
Sihanouk assumed personal command of Cambodian political life. The transformation of
Sihanouk from a merely proxy ruler of Cambodia propped up by the French to a national hero
who won Cambodia’s independence in 1953 is a phenomenal event in the political history of
Cambodia. As early as mid-1952, with a growing tidal wave of anti-French popular resistance
throughout the kingdom, Sihanouk launched himself into the vanguard of the movement by
declaring his “crusade for independence” from France. In March 1953, he dismissed the
Chapter 1 | 9
Dr. PATH Kosal
Democratic Party cabinet and declared himself Prime Minister. As his memoir later reveals,
Sihanouk saw himself as the supreme leader who could rise above warring political factions,
unite the country, and prevent foreign interference in Cambodia’s domestic affairs (Jeldres,
2005, pp. 52-53). To forge national unity, he formed a new political movement, the Sangkum
Reastr Niyum (People’s Community) that envisioned an egalitarian democratic socialist
regime. Over the years, Sihanouk was increasingly offended by attempts by political factions
to turn him into an inconsequential figurehead. He detested Western-style democracy as
it created sociopolitical disorder in his kingdom and allowed a demagogue like Son Ngoc
Thanh to easily manipulate his people (Jeldres, 2005, p. 53).
In foreign affairs, Prince Sihanouk had two sides: a firm postcolonial nationalist who
espoused national self-determination and neutrality and a shrewd pragmatist who sought to
maneuver the East-West confrontation in Cambodia’s favor through realpolitik diplomacy.
In his view, the United States never understood the rightful aspirations of the Cambodian
people, and he had to proactively maneuver the interests of great power in favor of Cambodia’s
cause. For instance, Sihanouk displayed his anticommunist stance and used it to pit the
Americans against the French by warning Washington that the French presence in Cambodia
was fueling communist recruitment. In February 1953 the French accepted Sihanouk’s
assumption of the post of commander-in-chief of the royal army and with it responsibility
for maintaining law and order and security in the kingdom. Profoundly disappointed in
the American Secretary of State Foster Dulles’s indifference to his cause, Sihanouk in April
turned to enlisting the power of the press and the sentiments of the American public to
play the United States off against France by alerting Washington to the risk of the rise of
Cambodian communism allied with the Vietminh if France refused to grant complete
independence to Cambodia (Jeldres, 2005, p. 48; Dommen, 2001, p. 211). On November 8,
France officially granted Cambodia’s complete independence, and the next day the formal
declaration of national independence was celebrated with a large-scale parade of Sihanouk’s
armed forces. This public display of Sihanouk’s popularity and military strength was meant
to deter his domestic and foreign enemies, especially Thailand and South Vietnam, from
threatening his regime and Cambodia’s national sovereignty.
From 1955 to 1969 Prince Sihanouk’s foreign policy was mainly driven by his perception
of threats to his power, his conception of monarchical social order, and his desire to
maintain Cambodia’s national sovereignty. By 1955, in Sihanouk’s view, the communist bloc
was supporting left-wing parties against him and the Western bloc was ignoring violations
of Cambodia’s borders in order to protect U.S. interests (Jeldres, 2005, p. 52). In April, at
the Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia, Prince Sihanouk publicly confirmed
that Cambodia had joined the community of neutral nations. However, the Eisenhower
administration viewed Cambodia’s neutrality as disproportionately anti-West as Nehru’s
neutralist foreign policy had become, and that Cambodia would be dominated by communist
China and Vietnam (Rust, 2016, p. 68). Top American officials at the State Department
were hostile to Cambodia’s neutrality. Unable to turn the Sihanouk’s regime into an anticommunist front, the Eisenhower administration relied on the CIA to overthrow Sihanouk
by supporting anti-Sihanouk groups (Rust, 2016, p. 4).
10 | Cambodia’s Foreign Relations In Regional And Global Contexts
Introduction: Cambodia’s Political History and Foreign Relations, 1945-1998
By his declaration of neutrality in India and at the Bandung conference, Prince Sihanouk
had embarked on a strategy of balance-of-power diplomacy to offset Cambodia’s geopolitical
vulnerability in the midst of the intensified Cold War in Asia, the onset of the Vietnam
War, and the long-standing threat to Cambodia’s territorial sovereignty emanating from the
West (Thailand) and the East (Vietnam). By 1959 it was clear to Sihanouk that the greatest
threats to his power, even his own life, and Cambodia’s sovereignty came from Thailand and
from South Vietnam, backed by their super-power ally, the United States. The uncovering
of the plot against him by his former internal security minister, Dap Chhuon, and a bomb
detonated at the Royal Palace in 1959 revealed the direct involvement of Thailand and South
Vietnam, aided by the United States, to destabilize Sihanouk’s regime (Jeldres, 2015, p. 135;
Dommen, 2001, pp. 354–356). The exposure of CIA involvement with the 1959 Dap Chhuon
plot severely damaged American relations with the prince (Rust, 2016, p. 4). Furthermore,
the assassination of President Diem in South Vietnam on November 2, 1963, hardened
Sihanouk’s fear of the U.S. government’s covert assassination of political leaders who opposed
the U.S. foreign policy (Dommen, 2001, p. 696). His fear was not without basis. In 1964, the
CIA concluded that any other Cambodian leaders would be much easier to deal with (Rust,
2016, p. 6).
It was the combination of the American hostility toward Cambodia’s neutrality, and its
inability to stop South Vietnamese and Thai support for Khmer Serei, and the CIA threat
to Sihanouk’s life that led him to align with communist China and Vietnam. Since 1960,
Hanoi’s concerted diplomatic efforts to court Sihanouk centered on Hanoi’s assurance of
Cambodia’s neutrality and national sovereignty. After 1964, Hanoi enticed Sihanouk with
expanded bilateral trade and allowed Cambodian civilian aircraft to land in North Vietnam
en route to China (CPMO, Folder 7793, pp. 1, 30). On June 20, 1967, the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam (DRV) diplomatic office in Phnom Penh was upgraded to the status
of an embassy and, two days later, the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (the
Viet Cong) established an office in Phnom Penh. Vietnamese historian Vu Duong Ninh
attributes the favorable conditions for the DRV struggle for national liberation in the South
to Hanoi’s success with its “neighborly policy” toward the Sihanouk regime (Vu, 2015, p.
169). The DRV’s strategy was to win Sihanouk’s support for its cause, national liberation in
South Vietnam.
For Sihanouk, his policy of friendly relations with Hanoi was mistakenly geared towards
winning Hanoi’s recognition of Cambodia’s territorial sovereignty and a better treatment of
Cambodia after Vietnam was unified and became a powerful neighbor to reckon with. To
Sihanouk’s way of thinking, Beijing and Hanoi offered unqualified respect for Cambodia’s
neutrality and territorial sovereignty and provided him with unconditional economic and
military aid (Richardson, 2010, p. 46). As his relationship with the United States continued to
deteriorate in the early 1960s, culminating in an open break with Washington in December
1963 (Chandler 1991, p. 124), he decided to stake Cambodia’s future on Communist China
and North Vietnam. From 1963 to 1965 Sihanouk also sought to exploit the increasing
Sino-Soviet rivalry for domination in Southeast Asia in order to extract material aid from
Moscow. From September 1963 through the end of 1964, Moscow provided a modest
Chapter 1 | 11
Dr. PATH Kosal
amount of military aid. But respect for Cambodia’s international standing also mattered a
great deal to Sihanouk. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s cancellation of a planned visit by
Sihanouk in November 1965 showed that Moscow did not share the same degree of respect
for Cambodia’s role that Beijing offered him (Richardson, 2010, p. 47). To Sihanouk, that was
an obvious sign that China was more than just a friend to Cambodia.
Sihanouk’s triangular arrangement with Hanoi and Beijing against Washington and its
ally South Vietnam in the spring of 1964 is a classic realist move, that is, “the enemy of my
enemy is my friend.” Even against the advice of his own senior cabinet members, Sihanouk
adopted an uneasy alliance with the Vietnamese communists. He took risky covert actions
that were either inconsistent or in direct violation of the Hague Convention of 1907 on the
rights and duties of neutral states. From 1966 to 1968 Sihanouk offered the Vietnamese
Communist forces along the Southern front a lifeline—a total of 115,385 tons of material
aid including weapons and ammunition passed through Cambodian territory to the Viet
Cong—when the Ho Chi Minh trails were being heavily bombed by the United States and
North Vietnam faced a U.S. naval blockade. Hanoi called Sihanouk’s assistance “the most
important and timely support for their military strategy in the South” (Vietnamese Ministry
of National Defense Archive, File No. 623, p. 14, p. 518).3 Beijing allowed Phnom Penh to keep
a third of all the material aid and promised more economic and military aid to Cambodia
(Richardson, 2010, p. 57). In his memoir, Sihanouk admitted that his army delivered rice
that the Chinese bought in Cambodia to the National Liberal Front (NLF) forces along
the Vietnamese-Cambodian border from 1964 to 1968 (Jeldres, 2005, pp. 67–68). Notably,
Lon Nol benefited personally from all these arrangements by charging expensive fees for
the transport of Chinese assistance to the Viet Cong, and after his 1969 visit to China, the
Chinese no longer trusted him (Jeldres, 2015, p. 86). In retrospect, Sihanouk’s realpolitik
maneuvering with the Vietnamese communists diminished the neutrality of Cambodia in
the eyes of the world.
By 1969, Prince Sihanouk’s regime suffered a legitimacy crisis and his political capital
and popularity across all levels of society evaporated quickly as his regime’s economic
mismanagement since 1966 resulted in an economic crisis (Chandler, 1991, pp. 159–163).
The public uncovering of a large presence of Vietnamese communists in Cambodian territory
further eroded his legitimacy. Yet, there was no political alternative to Sihanouk’s regime. In
addition to the economic crisis at home, political turmoil and economic depression in China
caused by Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution deprived Sihanouk of the main source of
Cambodia’s foreign aid (Richardson, 2010, p. 62).
In his attempt to stave off the threat of the Khmer Rouge-Viet Cong military alliance,
Prince Sihanouk initiated a rapprochement with the United States, which not only helped
him drive the Vietnamese Communists out of Cambodia’s territory but also appeased the
military wing of his government by securing the flow of U.S military aid to Cambodia.
Sihanouk agreed to the U.S. forces crossing the border in “hot pursuit” of the Vietnamese
communists, but the B-52 carpet bombing of Cambodia that President Nixon had ordered
was never discussed with Sihanouk (Jeldres, 2015, pp. 154-157). Nevertheless, Nixon and
his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger interpreted that as a blank check for their
12 | Cambodia’s Foreign Relations In Regional And Global Contexts
Introduction: Cambodia’s Political History and Foreign Relations, 1945-1998
secret and illegal bombing on Cambodian territory to destroy Vietnamese communist forces
(Chandler, 1991, p. 172). Starting from March 18, 1969, through the end of the year, the
U.S dropped about 161,000 tons of bombs (Kiernan, 2008, p. 18). Sihanouk protested the
U.S. bombing of Cambodian villages. The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent over
80 protest notes in October 1969 alone to the newly open U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh
(Jeldres, 2015, p. 165).
The American bombing failed to force the Viet Cong out of Cambodian territory. On the
contrary, in September, Lon Nol reported an increase in the number of communist troops
in the sanctuaries (Kiernan, 2008, pp. 18-19). In fact, the unintended consequences of the
bombing were politically detrimental to the intended military objective—the destruction
of entire Cambodian villages played into Khmer Rouge propaganda and swelled the ranks
of the Khmer Rouge armed forces. In the capital, Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak and General
Lon Nol, whom Sihanouk considered loyal to him, plotted a coup against him in March
1970. The coup marked a very important turning point in Cambodia’s modern political
history because its domestic and international political consequences set Cambodia on an
irreversible path toward a bloody civil war between the U.S. backed Khmer Republic and the
Khmer Rouge forces supported by communist China and Vietnam.
As a former biographer to Late King Norodom Sihanouk Julio Jeldres recalled, the coup
put him in an emotional state of mind. When he arrived in Beijing shortly after the coup,
he was still in shock as he had never expected that the loyal Lon Nol double-crossed him, a
brazen act of betrayal that angered Sihanouk above all else. In fact, he wanted to return to
France, as Princess Monique was counseling him. But, when the communists, especially the
North Vietnamese, gave him a false assurance of respect for Cambodia’s territorial integrity,
which had become Sihanouk’s obsession, he gave in and decided to join the fight (Jeldres,
2005, pp. 129–130). In retrospect, Hanoi defaulted all its promises made to Sihanouk from
1967 to 1975. All of Pham Van Dong’s promises were, in Sihanouk’s own words, “water
under the bridge” (Jeldres, 2005, p. 131).
IV. The Lon Nol Regime, 1970-1975
The short-lived Khmer Republic, which lasted from 1970 to 1975, inherited a growing
economic crisis from the Sihanouk regime and depended almost exclusively for its survival
on U.S. economic and military aid in the midst of the American disengagement from the
Vietnam War. Worse, when the Republic was officially proclaimed on October 9, 1970, the
country was deeply divided along an urban-rural fault line. This is precisely what Prince
Sihanouk had tried to avoid at all costs. Although the Republic received strong support
from the intellectual elites, students, and military, 60% of the population, especially in rural
areas, still supported Sihanouk. But nothing was more threatening to the new regime than a
powerful communist Khmer Rouge-Viet Cong alliance, and the regime had to mobilize its
resources very quickly to ward off the existential threat to the young republic. Furthermore,
the Sihanouk-led coalition government in exile in Beijing mounted a formidable challenge
Chapter 1 | 13
Dr. PATH Kosal
to the legitimacy of Lon Nol’s regime both at home and abroad.
The military weakness of the Republic was notably endemic, ranging from combat
ineffectiveness, systemic corruption, low troop morale to infighting among the leadership
(Clymer, 2007, pp. 117–118, 126). In 1970 Lon Nol’s army of 35,000—most of whom had
no combat experience—faced 65,000 combat-hardened Viet Cong troops (Dommen, 2001,
p. 749) along with nine Khmer Rouge battalions and 80 companies, supported and trained
by the Viet Cong (Institute of Military History, vol. 6, 2013, p. 256). The Khmer Rouge and
its Viet Cong ally were quick to take advantage of the regime’s inferior armed forces. From
April to June 1970, the Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge troops coordinated a series of counteroffensives, pushing the U.S. and South Vietnamese troops back over the Vietnamese side of
the border and gaining control of a large swath of territory along the border from Siem Reap
to Kampong Thom in the north, from Kratie in Stung Treng Province to Mondulkiri in the
northeast, and much of the countryside of Svay Rieng and Prey Veng from the border to the
Mekong River to the east. In Kampong Cham, Vietnamese Military Region 7 managed to
defend its central command, ammunition storage, and hospital. The seaport of Kampong
Som (formerly known as Sihanoukville), the main transportation lifeline of the Republic,
was subjected to frequent communist military raids. By the end of 1970, the Khmer Rouge
built a formidable force of 10,000 combatants, trained by the Vietnamese communists
(Institute of Military History, vol. 9, 2013, pp. 523-524).
Lon Nol’s expectation of unlimited economic and military aid from the United States did
not materialize as the Nixon administration was under growing pressure at home to disengage
American troops from its costly war in Indochina. In May 1972, when President Nixon
dispatched General Alexander Haig to personally inform Lon Nol that his administration
intended to restrict the involvement of American forces in Cambodia and provide only
limited economic and military aid, Lon Nol wept in the presence of the American general
(Dommen, 2001, p. 750). In June 1972 Lon Nol began a general mobilization and by the end
of the year, his army reached 180,000 (Dommen, 2001, p. 715). Yet Lon Nol’s army remained
on the defensive.
The military defeat of the communists in 1970 and 1971 aggravated the legitimacy crisis
for the Lon Nol regime and a power struggle ensued among the top three contenders, In
Tam, Yem Sambaur, and Prince Sirik Matak. Washington lost confidence in the incompetent
and ailing president, and according to South Vietnamese intelligence, in 1972 U.S.
Ambassador Swang sought to replace Lon Nol with Sirik Matak, but the CIA disagreed with
him (Republic of South Vietnam [RSV] Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Prime Minister’s
Office, January 20, 1972, p. 9). In March 1973 Lon Nol unilaterally ended popular sovereignty
and proclaimed himself president of the Republic. He then elevated his brother, Lon Non,
from the rank of police major to an army general and granted him the unchecked power to
sideline other able leaders like Prince Sirik Matak (Dommen, 2001, p. 888). Marshall Lon
Nol’s personalist authoritarianism, corruption, and incompetence further undermined the
unity of the Republic.
Central to the Republic’s foreign and security policy during this period were its relations
with neighboring South Vietnam and its patron, the United States. From 1970 to 1973, the
14 | Cambodia’s Foreign Relations In Regional And Global Contexts
Introduction: Cambodia’s Political History and Foreign Relations, 1945-1998
Khmer Republic’s relations with the Republic of South Vietnam turned from an uneasy
alliance into outright conflict over ethnic Vietnamese residents in Cambodia, territorial
claims, and conflicts of vested national interest. Yet, the United States attempted to forge a
strong triangular alliance with Cambodia and South Vietnam to roll back the communist
advance, a common threat Washington hoped would unite the two neighbors. In actuality,
the supposed reciprocity of cooperation between the two republics was severely undermined
by racial animosity, mutual distrust, outstanding territorial disputes, and conflicts of national
interests. Friendemy (friend/enemy relationship) perhaps best describes the relations
between the Khmer Republic and the Republic of South Vietnam.
The anti-Vietnamese ideology of the Lon Nol regime, fed by popular hatred toward
the Vietnamese and fanned by the Khmer media, rocked the relationship between the two
countries from the birth to the end of the Khmer Republic. The regime’s “great Khmer race”
ideology of combined ethnonationalism and popular republican nationalism manifested
itself in an anti-Vietnamese, anti-Chinese, anti-French, and anti-Sihanouk sentiment in
state-sponsored propaganda, the media, academia, and popular culture (Heder, 2007, p.
301). Anti-Vietnamese nationalism along with the growing fear of Vietnamese communists
made the large ethnic Vietnamese community of 500,000 in Cambodia the easiest target for
scapegoating (as exploiters of Khmer people) and demonizing (as communist sympathizers).
In April 1970 the regime began to persecute ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese across the
country. Notably, some 800 Catholic Vietnamese laborers were massacred by regime soldiers
and dumped into the Bassac River (Becker 198, p. 125). Systematic persecution of the ethnic
Vietnamese community throughout the country followed, including banning Cambodians
from buying the properties of departing Vietnamese. Therefore ethnic Vietnamese had to flee
without being reimbursed and leave their property behind. The anti-Vietnamese campaign
fostered internal unity among Khmer factions but enraged the Vietnamese people.
The Saigon government lodged frequent protests with the Lon Nol government and even
appealed to President Nixon to intervene to stop “racial hatred against all the Vietnamese in
general in Cambodia’s efforts to oppose the communist North Vietnamese threat” (President
Nguyen Van Thieu to President Nixon, April 23, 1970). On May 27, 1970, under pressure
from Washington, the Lon Nol regime signed an agreement with the South Vietnamese
Government in which it pledged to put an end to “forced repatriation” and “forced transfer
to concentration camps” of Vietnamese people in Cambodia (RSV Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Report to the Prime Minister’s Office, December 24, 1971). However, by the end of
1971, the South Vietnamese Government concluded that the Lon Nol government “harbored
deep anti-Vietnamese hatred and intended to repatriate the entire Vietnamese population
in Cambodia back to South Vietnam” (RSV Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Report to the Prime
Minister’s Office, December 24, 1971, p. 162).
Faced with growing protests by the South Vietnamese Government, the Lon Nol regime
sought to justify its continued anti-Vietnamese policy based on security concerns rather than
racial hatred. In early 1972, it shared intelligence with the South Vietnamese government
that revealed that “a large number of Vietnamese people in Cambodia sympathized with
the communists” (RSV Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Prime Minister’s Office, January
Chapter 1 | 15
Dr. PATH Kosal
28, 1972). Already under tremendous hardship in the middle of the war, Saigon found itself
facing additional pressure to deal with the exodus of Vietnamese residents from Cambodia.
By March 1972 a total of 125, 669 Vietnamese citizens were relocated to South Vietnam,
causing a significant financial and logistical burden on the government and local Vietnamese
authorities (RSV Ministry of Social Affairs’ report, March 6, 1972). Before its collapse, the
Lon Nol government repatriated half of the Vietnamese population—between 200,000 and
250,000 people—back to South Vietnam (Heder, 2007, p. 301).
This anti-Vietnamese ideology was amplified by the Khmer Republic leadership’s
perception of Cambodia’s inferiority and disadvantageous position vis-à-vis South
Vietnam. The U.S. did little to address the Lon Nol regime’s concern about South Vietnam’s
encroachment on Cambodia’s territorial sovereignty and its troops’ harassment and arrest
of Cambodian villagers during raids to destroy communist forces inside Cambodia. The
Cambodian leadership